


In The Endgame

by Infinite_J



Series: Age of Spiderverse [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adult Peter Parker, Agressive Peter Parker, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), BAMF Peter Parker, F/M, Hurt Peter Parker, Peter Parker Lives, Time Travel, older Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-21 19:27:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30026700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infinite_J/pseuds/Infinite_J
Relationships: Hulk & Peter Parker, Miles Morales & Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Peter Parker & Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Thor, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Scott Lang & Peter Parker, Wanda Maximoff/Peter Parker
Series: Age of Spiderverse [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2203500
Comments: 18
Kudos: 51
Collections: Age of Spiderverse





	1. Chapter 1

"Scarlet, how long have we been in here?"

"Twenty two days now Peter."

"Really?" Peter says, voice very high and dazed, "that long?"

"Yes Peter. It's been a while."

"How are you doing Peter?" Nebula asks as she walks in kneeling down next to him, wiping the sweat off his face. They bonded a little over the last twenty days, it took a while to get Nebula to talk but Peter wore her down. The first few days was all business as they worked on the Guardians ship that they took in an attempt to get back to earth but they ran out of fuel after the first jump they took. It got them closer but not long after they ran out and they were trying everything to power it and it worked for a while but eventually those plans fell through, the best plan Peter had after that was a distress beacon. Hopefully some passing ship would find them and hopefully they would be friendly. The issue now was that they had run out of food and water and they were running very low on oxygen, it was clearly taking more of an effect on Peter than it was on Nebula. It must've been all of the modifications Thanos did on her over the years, she gave up the last of the food to Peter and he should've found it odd but he was just happy to have something to eat.

"Oh I'm fine... Just tired."

"You look it."

"Is the... distress beacon still active?" 

"Yep, still active."

"Good, good. We should be found any day now..."

"Yes, any day now. How is your arm?" She asks lifting it to exam the injury. When they got onto the ship she help him clean the wound and gave him a shot of something that should help with any kind of infection, they then clean and wrapped it over the next twenty days.

"Good good, no pain."

"That is good. We-"

"Nebby..."

"I told you I hate that name."

"Nah you don't. Nebby... I'm so tired," Peter takes a pause as he struggles to breathe, "and oxygen will run out tomorrow. Can you do me a favour?"

"Of course Peter." She tells him, Nebula wasn't good at comforting anyone or anything but she attempt awkwardly to put a reassuring hand on Peter's shoulder.

"I kinda want a view... when I go." He tells her, nodding his head towards the chairs nearby. She nods and slowly lifts him up into Quills seat near the front. "Thank you Nebby... what a view..." Peter says in awe as he looks out in space with the stars shining so bright, it was peaceful and it made Peter feel at ease as his eyes slowly closed from exhaustion, Nebula left him to sleep and left the cockpit. Peter slowly started to drift off into a deep sleep when a light starts to shine on his face, the light begins to grow brighter and brighter becoming more intense forcing him to open his eyes however he did struggles to open them at first. The light was very intense and Peter winced at the light, as the light began to dim Peter got a better look at the source and he was sure he was hallucinating because it looked like the bright light was actually someone floating in space in front of him. He reached his arm out towards to figure but he slowly fell back to sleep and he was in and out of it capturing images and moments of Nebula and the ship flying moving quickly through the space. He finally woke up when someone was shaking his shoulder.

"Peter... Peter..." Nebula's voice says as she kept trying to wake him, "Peter, you're going to want to look."

"So tired..." Peter mutters out.

"I know but Peter look. it is Terra- I mean 'Earth'."

"E-earth?" Peter chokes out, opening his eyes as quickly as he could where he was met with the giant blue marble like planet in front of them. "Earth... home..." Peter says to himself under his breath, he was struggling to stay awake but he fought the exhaustion as they entered the atmosphere. They slowly landed on the planet and a small smile grows on Peters face as he looks at the compound. Nebula helps him out of the chair and walks him out and down to the entry hatch as it opened slowly. They walk down slowly and Peter watches as his friends, his family approached the ship. Steve runs up with Nat not far behind him and Nebula passes him over to Steve, Peter looks to Nebula and gives her a grateful look before looking to Steve. "Hey man."

"Hey Pete." Nat catches up and helps support Peter and notices his hand was missing.

"Pete... your hand." She says, Steve looks to his hands and sees the missing hand himself causing him to sigh.

"Its okay." Peter reassures them, it was okay but it wasn't the time. "Tony, we lost Tony."

"I'm sorry kid."

"Wanda?" Peter asks, his head snapping up to look between the two. A small amount of hope telling him that she might've survived but the looks on their faces told him everything he need to know. Peter hangs his head in defeat and they start to move him towards the compound when Rocket walks past them and it catches Peter's attention. "Is that a... Racoon?"

"Yeah Pete. That is a walking, talking Racoon." Nat confirms for him, there was a small pause before Peter spoke again.

"Cool..." Peter says in awe. They take Peter inside and sit him down and deactivating his suit so they can put an IV drip into him. They pull up a holographic casualty report list showing images and names of the people that were missing. 

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey states as the images first show Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes and T'Challa.

"World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census. Wakanda lost T'Challa and his Mother. The crown now falling to T'Challa's sister, Shuri. It looks like he did...," Nat goes into further detail but Peter was finding it difficult as the images of Stephen Strange, Tony Stark and Wanda Maximoff showed on the screen Peter hung his head averting his eyes from the images, he couldn't bare to look at them, "he did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent, of all living creatures." Peter's head shot up at the mention of Thanos' name.

"Where is that overgrown grape now?" A small smile formed on Nat's face at Peters childish insult but it dropped as quickly as it formed.

"We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through." Steve tells him.

"Just great..." Peters eyes scan the room and he sees a sullen-looking Thor sitting away from them in deep thought. "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh, he's pissed. He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but you know there's a lot of that's going around, ain't there?" Rocket the Racoon informs him, Peter just stares at him for a moment before talking.

"Sorry for staring, a lot has happened. I lost my bloody hand on an alien planet fighting an all powerful asshole... but a talking Racoon? Thats the weirdest shit I've ever seen." 

"It's okay, I've got that a lot the last few weeks." Rocket says brushing it off

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep Space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing. Pete, you fought him."

"I wouldn't call it much of a fight." Peter chuckles to himself, "more like a whole new level of beatdown. The guy threw a goddamn moon at Tony!" Peter continues to laugh, he was slowly becoming hysterical. "He... cut off... my fucking hand!" He says to them in between laughs, it was a bit creepy for the others as he slowly came to a stop trying to catch his breath.

"Look Pete, I know a lots happened but did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?"

"You know I've never broken my arms, like at all. You'd thing in this line of business I would have but I have never severely injured my arms. I was always proud of that considering how long I've been doing this..." Peters words drift off as he looks at the bandaged stump, "...ten years of beat downs and fights, ten years of success and failures, ten long years..." He whispers out as everyone stares at him.

"Peter, we need you to focus-" Steve starts but was cut off.

"And I need a break!" Peter snaps at him, jumping to his feet, "I am so exhausted I can't think. I can't even process the fact that Tony died in my arms and Wanda is gone!" Tears fall slowly down Peter's face as he gritted his teeth. "I- I need a god damn break! I-I need to call Ned." Peter says, his attention changing. His mood changed abruptly as he was no longer yelling. He rips out the IV in his arm as he made an attempt to leave the room. "Scarlet!"

"Peter, Peter, Peter, stop." Nat says as she tries to get him back into his chair.

"No, I need to know if Ned is alive. Scarlet!" He yells out for his A.I. again but he hadn't disable the Houdini protocol so she wasn't connect to any systems in the compound.

"Peter you need to sit down, you're not well." Steve tells him, Nat continued to try to put him back in his chair.

"I'm fine!" Peter snaps as he yanks his arm out of Nat's grasp. "I'm fine... I-" His sentence is cut off as he falls to the ground, Nat and Steve are first by his side with the rest going them gathering around him. They get him to the medical bay and reconnected his IV, Bruce starts a check up on him while the others talked.

"I'll do what I can to find out about Ned." Nat says to Steve as she looks at Peter sleeping. "And I'll contact Shuri and Okoye. They created that arm for... Bucky, maybe something can be done for Peter's hand." Steve nods, eyes not moving from Peter's body. "Do you think he'll be okay? He's already lost so much, I worry losing Wanda will push him over the edge."

"I don't know Nat, I really don't know."

* * *

_"That's awesome! I would love to see your lab!"_ Peter hears a familiar voice as her stirs awake.

 _"Maybe we can arrange that."_ A different voice says as Peter feels a slight pain in his left arm. _"It looks as though my patient is waking."_

_"Pete. You awake?"_

"Barley-" Peter cuts himself off as he finally recognised the voice, his eyes jumped open to see his best friend Ned sitting by his side. "Ned!" Peter yanks him with his right and pulls him into a hug. "You're alive!"

"Yeah Pete, I'm alive." Ned chuckles as he returns the hug. Ned can feel his shoulder become slightly wet as Peter cries into his shoulder. "It's okay man, I'm right here."

"She's gone Ned." Peter whispers into Ned's shoulder.

"I know Pete, Natasha told me before they left." Ned tells him as they pull apart, Peter uses his hand too wipe any remaining tears. 

"Left?"

"They... went to find Thanos." Silence fell as the name of the Mad Titan fell out of Ned's mouth. It wasn't until Peter felt a sharp pain in his left arm causing him to recoil before anyone spoke again. This is when Peter noticed the other person in the room who was working on his injured hand.

"Shuri?"

"Hello again, Peter."

"What are you doing here?"

"Right now I am assessing the damage here." She tells him gesturing to his arm, "so we can maybe get you fitted for a prosthetic. Similar to Sargent Barnes."

"But, don't you have to deal with any panic in Wakanda?"

"Yes, but I friend needed my assistance. I was happy to come by. Besides, Okoye can handle that for now."

"Thank you Shuri, for coming."

"Of course Peter. Won't be my first time working on a broken white boy, probably won't be my last." She mutters the second half to herself as Peter turns back to Ned. 

"Who else alive?" Peter ask, a little bit of hope getting the best of him.

"My mom is okay, MJ, Miles and Genki are good but Miles' dad and uncle faded." Ned tells him, his smile drops when he finishes his sentence.

"Is he okay?" 

"Yeah, they're taking it hard but they'll be okay. Miles will be happy to hear you're okay."

"Once I'm feeling better I'll go see him." Peter says as he yawns stretching out his arm. 

"You get some more rest Pete, you're still recovering."

"Yeah I think... I will." Peter replies as he closes his eyes letting sleep take him.


	2. Chapter 2

** 5 YEARS LATER... **

"You get a reading on those tremors?" Nat asks Okoye.

"It was a mild subduction under the African plate." Okoye informs her.

"Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?" Okoye looks at her like it was obvious.

"Nat, it's an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it." She tells Nat who nods her understanding before turning to Danvers.

"Carol, are we seeing you here next month?"

"Not likely."

"What, you gonna get another haircut?" Rocket comments, Nat sees the small smirk on Okoye's face.

"Listen fur-face, I'm covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth, are happening everywhere, on thousands of planets."

"All right, all right, that's a good point. That's a good point." Rocket murmurs to himself.

"So you might not see me for a long time." Danvers tells them.

"Alright. Uh, well. This channel is always active. So, if anything goes sideways... anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't... comes through me." They all agree before signing off leaving the call. Nat sighs exhausted and sits down, as she notices Rhodey still online.

"Where are you?" She asks.

"Mexico. The Federales found a room full of bodies. Looks like a bunch of cartel guys. Never even had the chance to get their guns off."

"It's probably a rival gang."

"Except it isn't." Nat realises where he's going with it. "It's definitely Barton. What he's done here, what he's been doing for the last few years... I mean, the scene that he left..." Nat starts to. slowly tear up as Rhodey talks. "I gotta tell you, there's a part of me that doesn't even want to find him." Nat tries to hold back the tears as she takes a bite of her sandwich.

"Will you find out where he's going next?"

"Nat..."

"Please." She insists.

"Okay." Rhodey says reluctantly before he cuts off, Nat starts to cry as she fails to hold back the tears.

"You know I'd offer to cook you dinner but you seem pretty miserable already." Steve says from out of nowhere, he leans on the bookshelf as Nat wipes off the tears off her face.

"You here to do your laundry?" She asks to attempt to move on from the fact she was crying.

"And to see a friend." He tells her.

"Clearly, your friend is fine." She tells him giving him a small smile and a look.

"You know I saw a pod of whales when I was coming up the bridge." Steve states as he plays with the keys in his hand.

"In the Hudson?"

"There's fewer ships, cleaner water." 

"You know, if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side. Um... I'm about you to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich" Nat says jokingly as she smiles, Steve returning the smile.

"Sorry. Force of habit." He says throwing his jacket on a nearby chair then taking a seat in one opposite Nat. "You know, I keep telling everybody they should move on and... grow. Some do. But not us." There was a hint of sadness in his voice.

"If I move on, who does this?" She asks.

"Maybe it doesn't need to be done."

"I used to have nothing. And then I got this. This job... this family. And I was... I was better because of it. And even though... they're gone... I'm still trying to be better."

"I think we both need to get a life." Steve states.

"You first." She says and they share a smile.

"You heard from Peter?" Steve asks.

"No, he keeps dodging my calls. But I've been keeping a eye on him." Nat passes a Daily Bugle newspaper, the head line read 'Scarlet Spider Takes Down Rhino' with the image bellow it showing the hero dressed in black and red standing on the large villains neck while he bled from the nose and a deep gash in his cheek.

"Do we need to handle him, what if he goes too far?"

"He won't, he's been a lot more brutal except for the last few month where he's reined it in a little for some reason."

"Are you sure about that?" Steve asks look at the newspaper again and her silence answered him for her, "Maybe we should go talk to him."

"And say what? The last time we tried to talk to him about Wa- what happened he snapped at us."

"I know but-"

"But what Steve? He's not been the same, when he recovered five years ago and actually let _everything_ that happened sync it. It hit him hard." Nat sighs in frustration, "we should've done more."

"We were all grieving, we still are." A holographic screen interrupts them as camera footage pops up in front of them, showing Scott Lang outside the compound.

"Oh! Hi. Hi! Is anyone home? This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. You wouldn't recognise me."

* * *

"Peter, maybe we should take a break." Ned says as he pauses for a moment, moving his hands away from the keyboard.

"No, one more test. This needs to work!" Peter tells him, his voice echoing through out the abandoned building.

"Peter, using tachyon-"

"I know but we don't know enough about Quantum mechanics to go that way. So tachyon particles are the only chance we have right now!" Peter snaps at Ned, Ned knew not to take it to heart. Peter was stressing out and when he got like this he snapped a lot. "Scarlet, turn on the machine on my say."

"Ready when you are."

"Now!" the machine activated, a large amount of electricity sparking out of it as as window started to open, "it's working!" But it seems Peter had jinxed it as the machine started to shut down and catching fire. Miles and MJ grabbed the fire extinguishers and put out the fire. "Damn it!"

"Peter it's okay-

"Its not okay!" Peter says punching the wall with his left hand, smashing a large amount of it as the Vibranium hand hit the concert causing a very large echo. He breathed heavily as stared at the ground. "I'm sorry for snapping Miles."

"It's okay Pete."

"It's not. I shouldn't take out my frustration on you." He says to Miles turning to him, leaning against the wall he just punched.

"Its okay." Miles reassures him again, smiling at Peter who returns it with a small smile.

"How about we go practice, if you want to head up to the second floor and put on your web shooters?"

"Okay." Miles says a little giddy, the who snapping thing gone from his mind as he rushed out of the room. Miles was always eager to practice Spider-Maning, he'd only had his powers just under a year but he was a natural. When Miles was out of the room Peter slid down the wall in exhaustion, resting his head on the wall as he took some deep breaths. Ned and MJ walk over to, MJ crouches in front of him and grasps his hand comfortingly.

"You okay?" She asks.

"No, but I'll be fine."

"Peter, I think we need to give up-"

"-on tachyons, I know." Peter finishes for Ned. "Should've known it was a waste of time. We need to look at Quantum mechanics again, but we only know so much. We'd need someone who is an expert to pull it off."

"We could try Shuri?" Ned suggests as Peter gets to his feet.

"And if we fail we will just be wasting her time, she has a country to run." Peter sighs rubbing his furrowed brow, "if Tony were here we could figure it out."

"Maybe he has." MJ states making Peter look at her confused. "Well, he worked on a lot of projects. You're telling me that he wouldn't look into time travel in his free time?"

"That's not a bad idea. Even if he didn't finish we'd have somewhere to start." Ned points out. "He would have a bunch of research on it, I'm sure Friday will know."

"Yeah I could, I'll head to the compound tonight." Peter says grabbing web cartridges loading them into his web shooter and Vibranium prosthetic. "Right now, I need to train Miles." He exits the room leaving MJ and Ned standing there.

"I'm worried about him." MJ tells Ned, "the last five years have been so hard on him."

"I know. The last year though he's been... better."

"Is better the correct term? He's still depressed and aggressive to criminals." She points out to him.

"He's not as brutal as he was, not since Miles got his powers." It was true, the responsibility of training Miles made Peter realise beating his criminals to a severe extent may not be the best thing when training his new protégé. While he's still more aggressive to his heavy hitters such as Rhino and Shocker losing his temper at them, he was less hard on petty criminals.

"But if this fails he will fall into a much deeper and darker pit than before."

"You don't know that. He isn't giving himself false hope, he knows the unlikelihood of us achieving. He will be fine." Ned insists, MJ continued to look unsure but dropped the subject.

"I need to head to work. Make sure they don't train too hard." MJ tells him as she picks up her bag and leaves the building.

* * *

"Okay, good work today Miles. Head on home."

"But can we-"

"No, you have a paper due soon. So head home, see your mom, rest. That's an order." Peter tells Miles who was about to argue again.

"Come on Kid Spider, I'll give you a lift home." Ned tells him nodding towards the door.

"We seriously need to workshop that name." Peter hears Miles says as they left the building, leaving Peter alone.

"Scarlet, get my bike ready. Need to make an abrupt trip to the compound."

"Ready and waiting boss. Should I notify Natasha?"

"No... don't. I won't be staying." He says as he leaves the building as well to where his bike was in incognito mode. "I want to get in and out." Peter hops on the bike and starts making his way to the Avengers Compound when he gets an incoming call from Ned.

"Hey Ned what's up?"

"I was just wondering if you'd be coming back to the apartment or staying at the compound."

"Likely coming back... unless I find something there."

"Okay, let me know."

"Will do." Peter says before ending the call. The trip up to the compound passed in now time as Peter sort of zoned out on the way there and only snapped out of it when he was driving up the main road to the compound. Peter parked the bike in the garage where it refuelled for his journey back, he then made his way up to the shared lab so he could access Tony's files. He went the long way around in hopes to avoid Natasha or anyone else and thankfully he didn't. "Friday, you there?"

"I am Mr. Parker."

"Cool, can you help me find some stuff Tony might have been working on?"

"Absolutely, anything specific."

"Look for anything with the key phrases: Time Travel, Quantum Mechanics and Physics, Past and Future."

"Searching now. Natasha Romanov and Captain Rogers are returning now, do you wish for me to notify them of your presence."

"No! no... don't tell them." Peter exclaims as he approaches one of the monitors, it was displaying Friday running through all of Tony's files. "Scarlet, help run through the files. You know exactly what I'm looking for."

"Will do Peter." She tells him as he takes a seat in one of the chairs by the workbench, where an old iron gauntlet sat. It must've been something Tony was working on five years ago, Peter picked it up and slid it onto his wrist giving his fingers a flex and extending them causing the gauntlet to activate. But it didn't fire off a repulsor blast like it should have, it started to slowly become invisible and then Peter realised what Tony was working on. It was a Stealth Suit, one that could bend light to make the user invisible. Peter and him talked about doing it but never got around to experimenting, Peter smiles at the gauntlet as he powered it down and put it back on the workbench. "Found something boss." Scarlet announces.

"Shoot Scarlet."

"It seems Tony was running simulations on different models that might have been the key but were all were failures."

"Damn it."

"However, there are still a few models that he never ran. Last time Tony accessed the file was nearly six years ago."

"Well, might as well give it a run right. Get the simulation ready to run the last model." Peter says getting up to move to a different work station better suited for it.

"Okay Peter- I've found an encoded message."

"What is it?" Peter asks and was answered when a holographic figure appeared in front of him making him gasp in surprise. "Tony?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Tony?!"

"This thing on?" The holographic image of his dead friend and mentor bends down and knocks his finger on whatever was recording. "Okay, good. Hey Peter," It says to him, not exactly looking at him dead on as Peter moved around watching the message, "right now it's a 11:30pm March 11th, 2017 and you are still on the run. And if you're looking into 'time travel' and this message is playing that means there is a very high chance of me being dead. What a bummer." Tony deadpans.

"What the hell." Peter says, he couldn't believe this was actually happening. "Scarlet shut it off."

"I can't, we can't access the file fully without this message being played in full." She tells him making Peter sigh in frustration.

"Damn it, Okay. Let me know when it's over." Peter says as he makes a move to leave the room.

"Peter..." Tony's hologram starts making Peter stop in his feet, "I'm sure that you're taking my death hard. I would be offended if you didn't." Peter shakes his head trying not to smile, he really did miss Tony and his awful jokes. "Look, I know you've lost a lot and had to endure more than your fair share of trauma."

"I'll say..." Peter mutters moving back to watch the message.

"If you're attempting to use time travel to bring me back in someway, I would argue that you shouldn't. We both know that time travel isn't like the movies and you can't just go back and change something in hope the future changes. So just appreciate what you still have and don't push anyone away," Tony says running his hand through his hair. Peter bit his lip in guilt as he has done exactly that, pushing away everyone especially the Avengers, "and I would rather you move on with your life than worry about lil ole me." Peters sighs, rubbing his hand over his beard. "That being said, if you're determined or believe you need my research then I trust your judgment. You were always the best of us, Peter."

"I know plenty of people who would argue against that."

"Before I go Peter, if I never get to tell you this let me say it now. Bringing you into the fold was one of the best things I ever did, you became the heart of this team that I didn't know we needed, you are one of the greatest men I have ever known. I hope you never have to see this message because... I would rather tell you this in person in the far far far future. Love ya kid." The message ended there and the hologram disappeared.

"Love ya too, Tony." Peter whispers to the empty spot. 

"I now have access to his research, shall I run the simulations."

"Yeah, run the models. Even the ones Tony already ran. Notify me when they're done."

"Of course Peter, where are you going?"

"To talk to Natasha. Time I stop pushing away some of the only people I have left. Friday, where is Nat?"

"In the garage with Captain Rogers, Doctor Banner and Scott Lang?"

"Okay thank- Wait. Scott Lang?!"

* * *

Peter watches as they stand in front of a van, erratic and frantic as Scott was an old man. Then suddenly he was sucked into back into the van before returning as a baby. Peter would laugh if he wasn't baffled by the scene in front of him, finally Scott had come back to normal as they shut off the machine. Natasha turns to Bruce to say something but was stopped when she noticed Peter standing not far from them, "Peter? What are you doing here?"

"I'm... running a project, needed some information from Tony's files. Better question is, how the hell is he here?" Peter asks gesturing to the returned Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man. 

"It's a long story." Scott says.

"I've got the time." Peter insists and so they go on to explain what happened with Scott, how he was in the middle of a Quantum tunnel experiments and how he got stuck in there and how he got here. Then they went on to explain Scotts plan to use the Quantum realm to travel back in time to get the stones and how they were running tests on it since none of them were experts. "Wow... okay... so I guess I wasted a year on tachyons for nothing."

"Tachyons?"

"Particles that travel faster than light. Some studies suggest that they can be the way to time travel." Bruce explains before Peter can, Nat turns to Peter giving him a look that might make anyone back up.

"You've been attempting time travel? For over a year? Why did you tell me?" She almost scolded him.

"Because we weren't speaking, which I know is on me, I know. But I also didn't want to get your hopes up, I've had no luck at all. And it looks like neither have you," Peter replies looking a bit sheepishly and attempting to draw attention away from him he points to the van, "from what I can tell it's the EPR Paradox. Instead of pushing Scott through time, you might've wound up pushing time through Scott."

"Have you had any luck?" Steve asks getting back to the matter at hand.

"Well, no-"

"Peter I have something." Scarlet cuts him off.

"Hold that thought." Peter says to them, "What is it Scarlet?"

"We have had success with on of the models. The Mobius Strip inverted, Tony put in his notes he believed it was a long shot but we have a 99.987% succession rate."

"That's amazing. I- I can't believe." Peter says bewildered.

"What? What can't you believe?" Natasha asks him.

"We have a way to do it. We have a way to go back in time." Peter tells them.

"Really?" Scott asks

"Well, I need to go build a device. It'll take me a few days but that gives you guys time to get the message out to some others like Rhodey and Okoye. And then we need to make a much bigger device than that." Peter tells them pointing at the van.

"Well done Pete, you did it." Steve says

"But I didn't..." He says quietly making the others look very confused, "it was Tony. It was Tony's research."

"Even though he's gone he's still somehow the hero." Steve says with a small smile. 

"I- I need to get to work on this right away. You don't mind me using the lab right?" Peter asks Natasha.

"Of course not-" Before she could even finish Peter bolted from the garage back to the lab. "Well, it's nice to have him back around here." She says turning to Steve.

"Feeling like the old days already."

* * *

"How's it going in here?" Steve asks as he enters to room, he sees Peters head down over the workbench as some small sparks fly as the song 'Travellers Chant' by Rizzle Kicks played in the background. "Brought you some food, you've been held up in here for the last two days."

"Thanks. Things are all good, almost finished." Peter says lifting his protective goggles off to look at Steve, Scarlet lowered the volume to zero as they spoke, "once I've finished this 'Space-Time GPS' I can get Friday and Scarlet quickly produce the rest in the fabricator."

"Really? That was quick." Steve says shocked.

"Well, Tony done all the research. I'm just putting it to use with some minor adjustments." 

"He'd be proud I think."

"I don't know about that." Steve gives him an odd look. "I've wasted the last five years."

"Peter-"

"No I have. I stopped being Peter Parker and let my vigilantism consume me. Consume me to the point where I shut myself off from you guys, my friends, the only people I had left. I became this brutal jackass using punching to deal with my problems."

"Peter, we all deal in our own ways. I can admit your way of dealing made me worried. Which is why I would call every so often to maybe get you to come to my support group."

"Yeah sorry I ignored you-"

"No it's fine Pete. Just glad you're here."

"Me too." Steve gives him a pat on the back before turning to leave when Peter realised something. "Oh Steve!" Peter jumps from his seat and disappears around the corner of the room before returning with a red white and blue shield. "Here," He says passing it to Steve. Steve looks shocked to see his shield and slowly takes it from Peter.

"Didn't think I'd see this again."

"Tony would want you to have it."

"You sure about that?"

"It's been a long five years Steve, you need it back. The world needs Captain America, always has... always will." Peter tells him sincerely, Steve nods before leaving the lab but Peter wasn't alone for long before Natasha walked in. "Oh... hey Natasha."

"You never call me Natasha."

"Well I felt I lost the privileged of using Nat by being a jackass." Peters says with a little bit of jokey tone hoping he was wrong but all he got was a hum of understanding. "Where are the others?"

"Bruce is getting ready to get Thor with Rocket tomorrow." She says bluntly as she leans against the wall.

"Oh cool, haven't seen him in a while."

"Rhodey should be here tomorrow too and Nebula will stay here while Rocket and Bruce are gone." She deadpans, not much emotions as she spoke to him.

"I see." Peter says "Look Natasha I'm sorry, I-"

"Pushed me away." She cut him off but he tone was still deadpan.

"Yeah. I shouldn't have ignored-"

"Damn right you shouldn't have." She snaps a little moving closer to him. "Look, I get you were- are grieving. I gave you your space, but you could have checked in every so often Peter."

"I know."

"Did you forget I lost Tony and Wa- everyone else too? Then I had to lose you?" He voice becoming slowly louder.

"I know."

"Years of barely any communication and then you show up out of nowhere?"

"Natasha-

"Stop calling me Natasha!" She yells at him, "You don't call me that... Even now you're trying to distance yourself from me, why-"

"Because!" Peter shouts cutting her off and hits his prosthetic fist into the table causing it to concave inward and takes a deep breath before speaking again, "because I hurt you and if this doesn't work... I'm worried I'll become just as distant again. And I can't do that to you guys again."

"Peter-"

"No Natasha, I'm an ass and I'm so sorry I pushed you away. I really am, I've missed you so much." Peter sighs rubbing his forehead as a headache started to come on, "I am really sorry, I wish I could make it up to you."

"Maybe you can start by calling me Nat and we go from there."

"Right, okay Nat."

"Good to have you back, Pete."

"Good to be back."

* * *

"Hey Miles, what's up?" Peter says as as Miles' face pops up on the screen.

"Ned said you've mad this massive break through!"

"Yeah, I'm just finishing up some stuff before getting some sleep."

"Cool so should I come to the compound? Oh- will I get to meet Captain America?! Can I-"

"Miles... you can't be apart of the mission." Peter cuts him off shaking his head.

"But I can help! I can-" He exclaims.

"I know you can Miles, I'm sure you could."

"Then why-"

"Because I need you here. If something goes wrong and I don't make it back... New York needs a Spider-Man."

"But you'll make it back. I know you will." Miles insists

"Kid... I'm going to be real with you this is a risky mission. There's a small chance I might not make it back and-"

"But New York needs you! Ned, MJ, Genki! They need you! I'll need you! Why take the risk?" Miles asks but Peter knows he's grasping at straws, he knows Miles knows the answer to this.

"You know why. If there's a chance that we can get everyone back I'm taking that chance. Even if it means my life."

"But-

"If we succeed you get your dad and uncle back Miles, Wanda comes back. My life for billions of people, the choice is clear." Miles looks away from the screen. "This is what it means to be in our line of work. What do I always tell you?"

"With great power comes great responsibility?" Miles sighs out.

"Exactly and the last five years I've abused my power and ignored my responsibility. I need to make amends for that."

"Okay... I understand."

"Good, if we make it back you can meet everyone then. Deal?"

"Deal!"

"Okay I gotta go, I'll talk to you later."


	4. Chapter 4

"Ah!" Peter yells, body shooting up off the couch where he was sleeping.

"Nightmare?" Someone asks from the kitchen making Peter jump, he looks to see Nat getting a coffee from the kitchen.

"Yeah... yeah." Peter says wiping the sweat off his face.

"Why did you sleep in your room? It's exactly how you left it." She asks sitting in the armchair nearby.

"I... can't. I can't sleep in that bed without her." Peter tells her while grabbing his top and putting it on, "what time is it?" 

"Five."

"Damn, I've only been asleep an hour," His mutters wiping his eyes "why you up?" 

"I'm always up at this time. What was the dream about?"

"It was nothing."

"Pete-"

"Nat... please don't push. I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay... well I'm going to the training room. You're welcome to join me if you want but I recommend getting some more sleep." She says getting up and ruffling his hair. Peter should take her advice and go to sleep but he couldn't, not after that nightmare.

"Scarlet, are the devices finished?"

"Yep, all have been assembled and calibrated correctly."

"Damn it, I need a distraction."

"Might I suggest suits for the mission."

"No, that won't take that long. Tony's nano tech is easy to program, Bruce and Scott wanted to do that anyway."

"Anything left to be done on the Quantum Tunnel?"

"Nope, schematics and blueprints are finished. Just got to build it which we will do after Rocket and Bruce do their thing. That'll take a little while to do anyway." He tells her while running a hand through his hair sighing.

"What about the cloaking tech Tony was developing." Peters eyes go wide in realisation from her suggestion.

"This is why you're the best Scarlet. Get the lab ready, I'm going to take a quick shower." Peter says rushing to his room and showering as quickly as possible, if he got the cloaking tech done he could apply it to the suits and taking the stones would be ten times easier. While he dries off from the shower he took a look at himself in the mirror and he decided his beard needed a trim, it was getting out of hand. He grabs his razor and started trimming his neck and shaping the beard then he rinsed his face off and took another look at himself. He determined he looked much less like a homeless person now. "Much better," he says to his reflection before grabbing some fresh clothes and running off to the main lab. "Okay, get up all of Tony's research. There's a reason it's not finished otherwise he would've used it five years ago on Titan."

"Already up boss." Scarlet tells him as the holographic screens appeared.

"Let's get to it."

* * *

"Kid, wake up kid. Come on you need to get up." A muffled voice says near Peter, as he starts to stir awake he realises his face is lying down cold and flat. "Peter!" The voice shouts making him shoot up, Peter looks around the room dazed before looking at where the voice was coming from.

"Oh hey Rhodey."

"What's good kid."

"When did you get here?" 

"Sometime ago, Nat said to let you sleep though since you didn't get much in the night." Rhodey tells him, Peter turns to look at the time and it was two in the afternoon.

"Ah thanks. Where is she?" Peter asks wiping the gunk from his eyes and yawning.

"Japan, looking into a lead on Barton."

"Clint? That's going to go well."

"Yeah well, Hulk and Rocket have gone to get Thor so it's us, Scott, Cap and Nebula."

"Cool cool, I'm gonna grab a bite." Peter says getting up and following Rhodes out the room to the kitchen where Scott was sitting making some food. "Oooo what you making?"

"Some more Tacos. You want some?"

"Nah, I'm in the mood for chicken paprikash."

"Don't think I've ever had that."

"Something Wanda would make a lot, with her own twist to it." Peter says grabbing some pots and pans from the cabinets.

"Ah right," Scott says looking at Peter, "hey, look man I was sorry to hear she was one of the ones that, yknow-" Scott stopped himself as Peter paused while he looked through the cabinet, he waited a moment before continuing, "for me, its been just over two years since I last saw you. I can't image how it been for you man."

"Yeah it's been hard," Peter says getting the spices out, a sad look on his face, "I have handled it all too well, only started getting my act together about a year ago."

"What changed?"

"A kid I know... Miles," Peter says a small smile coming to his face, "he got powers, my powers. My friends told me I had to train him but I refused, that didn't stop the kid from trying to be like 'Spider-Man'. He got hurt and it was a wake up call, since then I've slowly been getting my shit together. He was my new inspiration, my new responsibility." Peter explains as he started to prepare his meal, "but I haven't got all my crap together yet, have you done any catching up?"

"Yeah I noticed you got a bit more..." Scott dragged out the word as he looked for a way to describe how Peter had acted the last few years.

"Aggressive, brutal, almost murderous?" Peter offered.

"I was going to go with 'kinda mean'." Scott tells making Peter chuckle, "I noticed you're no go by longer Spider-Man?"

"Nope, everyone knows its the same guy by I started going by my new name."

"Why?"

"Well... the way I was acting, what I was doing... it just wasn't how Spider-Man acted. Wasn't how he should've acted so I changed the name to preserve the mantle." 

"So you went with the new name and new suit, to fit the tone?"

"Yep, even in our business its all about marketing." Peter jokes.

"I see, but can I ask. Why 'Scarlet Spider'?" Scott asks and Peter pauses to take a moment to think on it.

"It was Wanda's favourite colour... it was my way of making sure I wouldn't go too far." Peter explains while dicing up the chicken, "I'd remember what my name was and it would stop be from hitting too hard and finishing the job."

"Right I get you," Scott says finishing off his Taco, "but you said you was getting your crap together. So why not change back? To Spider-Man I mean?"

"I'm not there yet." He tells him to which Scott nods. Peter changes the subject to Scott and his daughter, Scott was very willing to talk about his daughter and how much she had grown over last few years and Peter was very happy to listen."

* * *

"You alright there, Lebowski?" Peter says to Thor laughing as he approached the Quantum platform where rocket was working. "How's it going down there, trash panda?"

"Ha ha very funny kid, it's fine not much left to do on this part." Rocket tells him to which Peter nods before going into the other room to finish some extra bits for the Time-Space GPS's when he looks over to see Rhodey walking over to Bruce who was sorting out the the suits.

"Time travel suit? Not bad." Rhodey says watching Bruce. Scotts starts to freak out as a response to Hulk touching the suit and something red in a glass tube.

"Hey, hey, hey! Easy, easy!"

"I'm being very careful." Bruce assures him.

"No, you're being very Hulky." Scott argues.

"I'm being careful." Bruce insists. Scott holds up the red glass bottle to Bruces face.

"These are Pym Particles, alright? And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We're not making any more."

"Scott, calm down." I say to them from the next room.

"Sorry. We've got enough for one round trip each. That's it. No do-overs. Plus two test runs." He then proceeds to accidentally presses a button and shrinks before growing back to his normal size. "One test run." Peter smiles at the antics as he continues to work on th

"All right. I'm not ready for this." Scott breathes out.

"I'm game. I'll do it."

"No, I'll do it." Peter says walking into the room. "Sorry, it's just if something goes wrong I can figure out a way back." He says to Clint who nods his understanding. They all agree and Peter changes into the time suit.

"Peter, as you know you're gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift." Peter nods to Bruce as he was working on the suit.

"Wai-Wait a second, let me ask you something. If we can do this, you know, go back in time, why don't we just find baby Thanos, you know, and..." Rhodey makes a hand gesture suggesting that they strangle baby Thanos with a rope.

"First of all, that's horrible..." Bruce says to him.

"It's Thanos." Rhodey argues back.

"...And secondly, time doesn't work that way. Changing the past doesn't change the future."

"Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them... Thanos doesn't have the stones. Problem solved."

"Bingo." Clint says from the side."

"That's not how it works." Peter says to them.

"Well, that's what I heard." Clint replies.

"What? By who? Who told you that?" Bruce asks knowing the stupid answers about to fly out of their mouth.

"Star Trek, Terminator, TimeCop, Time After Time-" Rhodey starts counting them off his fingers.

"Quantum Leap-" Scott jumps in.

"A Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time-" Rhodey continues.

"Hot Tub Time Machine -" Scott jumps in once again.

"Hot Tub Time Machine" Rhodey repeats, "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Basically, any movie that deals with time travel."

"Die Hard? No, it's not one..." Scott says making Peter give him a look of 'really?

"This is known." Rhodey ends with making Bruce shake his head.

"I don't know why everyone believes that, but that isn't true. Think about it: If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past. Which can't now be changed by your new future..."

"Exactly."

"So... Back To The Future's a bunch of bullshit?"

"Pretty much, sorry man." Peter tells them as they finally finish up on the suit and head for the platform.

"Alright, Peter. We're going in 3... 2... 1!" A helmet similar to Ant-Man's but white and more visible face pops on Peters head, and he goes quantum. Peter flies through the quantum realm and into an opening. When he grows back to normal size he's at a different place and clearly a different time since now it was night. It was six years ago and he was outside the compound, he checked the time and it was two in the morning which means everyone would be asleep if they were here. He rushed inside but stayed as quiet as possible and looked for evidence it was really six years ago. He ran into the living room and was stopped in his tracks as he found a sleeping Wanda on the couch watching TV.

"Wanda..." He whispers to himself he gets closer to her, making sure not to wake her and he almost cried as she stirred slightly in her sleep. He reached his hand out wanting to touch her face when his device started beeping and indicating he was about flung back to the present. "No-" He starts as he disappears, Wanda jumps awake at the noise but when she looks around she sees nothing and shrugs it off as she gets up and heads to her room after looking at the time. Peter returns back on the platform breathing heavily, falling to his knee as Nat and Steve rushed to the platform to check on him.

"Hey, hey. Look at me. You okay?" Nat asks him as he gets back to his feet.

"Yeah, it worked. It worked." Peter breathes out.

* * *

"Okay, so the "how" works. Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones." Steve starts the meeting.

"I'd substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones." Nat throws in.

"I haven't, I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about." Scott tells them.

"Regardless, we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history." Bruce says.

"Our history. So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in." Peter jumps in.

"Which means we have to pick our targets." Clint adds.

"Correctamundo... a word I'll never be saying again.

"Let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?" Steve asks turning to Thor who was sitting on a chair with his sunglasses on. It is impossible to tell whether he is awake or asleep. 

"Is he asleep?" Nat questions.

Are you serious?" Peter asks gritting his death.

"No, I'm pretty sure he's dead.

“Get your shit together you jackass,” Peter hisses at him hitting his arm to wake him up, Thor was dumbfounded as he was awoken and looked upon Peter. “I know you lost a lot Thor but you need to sort yourself out!”

“Peter-“

“No! He needs to hear this!”He snaps at Steve “I know we’re all grieving in our way. I became angry, aggressive closed off, Clint went on a vigilante murder spree against criminals worldwide but I would argue you are the worst!” He yells at Thor “I know, I know how much you have lost Thor. Your Father, Your Brother, You’re best friend! You lost them in the span of a few days, then you lost against Thanos.”

“Peter!”

“But everyone here lost to him and you don’t see them in such a state as you do you? Even as we try to get everyone back, as we try and undo a wrong you can’t get over yourself! I know exactly how you feel but look at yourself! You need to stop acting like a child and get your shit together! You’re over a thousand years old! Get all your shit and get it together!”

“Peter that’s enough!” Steve yells, Peter glares at him before he throws his notepad he was holding on the table, still glaring at Steve for telling him off like a child before leaving the room. "How about we take a small break." He suggest as Nat goes after Peter, who she found in the lab throwing something across the room.

"Peter-"

"I know, I lost my temper. I shouldn't have yelled at Thor."

"Well yes, but you was saying what everyone was thinking."

"Still, I was a little hard with him." Peter says picking up what he threw and put it on the table, "don't worry I'll apologise to Thor." And as if on queue he walked in to the lab, knocking on the open glass door.

"I'll let you two talk," Nat says looking between the two before leaving.

"Look, Thor I'm sorry-" Thor stops him by putting his hand up.

"Please," he says before take a pause to finish his drink, "Peter, you were right." At this Peter looked a little shocked. "I have let myself go haven't I." He chuckles as he pats his very large stomach. "And you're right, we all lost just as much as each other. From this moment I'm going to sort myself out." He tells Peter giving himself a pat on the back before pulling out another can. Peter gives him a look saying 'are you serious?' "Baby steps, baby steps." Thor nervously chuckles as they leave them room to join the others. "Right! Let's get to it!" He announces to them all, "Where to start? Umm... The Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It's more of a... an angry sludge thing, so... someones gonna need to amend that. Here's an interesting story though, many years ago... My grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves..." He wiggles his fingers to imitate a spooky ghost, "Wooooh, scary beings. So Jane, "an image of Jane Foster pops up on the screen. "Oh, there she is. That's Jane... She's... an old flame of mine... She... she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time... and then the Aether stuck itself inside her... And, she became very, very sick. So I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from. And we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see. I got to introduce her to my Mother... who's dead," Thor starts to look broken, and seems on the verge of tears, "and oh you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, these things happen though you know, nothing last forever, I'm not done yet, the only thing permanent in life is impermanence." Peter sighs facepalming, embarrassed of the demigod and far less sorry about shouting at him after all that.

"Okay I'm recommending we get some food, this is gonna be a long night." Peter says getting up.

"Seconded." Scott says and the rest of them agree, the order their food before getting back to the matter at hand.

"Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag." Rocket explains as everyone eats.

"Is that a person?" Scott asks.

"Morag's a planet. Quill was a person."

"A planet? Like in outer space?" Scott asks excited.

"Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything." Rocket teases Scott as he starts talking to him like he's a puppy, "Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll get you to space." Peter laughs as Rocket gets back to the rest of the information about the the Power Stone before they move onto the Soul Stone.

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir."

"What is Vormir?" Nat questions.

"A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence. It's where... Thanos murdered my sister." Nebula lets her head hang a little and a small silence overtakes the room. Scott makes to break the awkward moment.

"Not it." Peter whacks him on the arm for the very bad joke. It felt like they had been going for ages so some of them went a took a break which left Nat, Bruce and Peter who sat and lay around and on the table.

"That Time Stone guy..." Nat starts

"Doctor Strange." Bruce fills in the name for her.

"Yeah, what kind of doctor was he?"

"Tony would describe it as 'Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit from a hat'." He deadpans.

"Nice place in the village, though. Bleecker Street."

"So New York? We can go any year then to get that."

"Pretty much."

"Hey isn't the Tesseract on Asgard as well?" Peter asks, making them turn to him. "In 2012, Thor took it there after the Battle of New York. So it would be in Asgard, right?"

"Yes yes yes- it was. We could get it when we go!" Thor says looking to Rocket, still a little drunk as they enter the room.

"Okay so that's two more down."

"Last is the mind stone, I would argue 2012 Battle of New York is the best ti-"

"Actually Steve," Peter cuts him off and they turn to him, "I think 2015 is ideal. Sokovia."

"Are you sure Peter."

"Definitely, too many variables in 2012. We get in the base, possibly knock out Tony if he gets in before us and take it."

"If you think that's best Peter."

"I really do and we can have the Time Stone team go in 2015, so both teams have a form of back up incase something goes arise." Peter suggests to them, they all seemed to agree it was a good idea. They get to work on the plan. 

"I have some cloaking tech I can give us, but I only have enough for two people. I think it'll be best for the Mind Stone team, that's one of the place we will most likely run into other versions of ourselves. Best to limit that kind of interaction." Peter tells them, showing them as he attaches something to his Spidey mask, it slowly turning invisible as an example of what it can do. They all agree to this before moving on.

* * *

"All right. We have a plan. Six Stones, three teams. One shot."

"To summerise," Peter announces, he looks around at them all. "Rocket and Thor, you two will be getting the Reality Stone from Jane Foster and the Space Stone in the Asgaridan Vault in 2013." The two nod before Peter looks to the next team, "Rhodey, Nebula, Nat and Clint will travel to the year 2014. Rhodey and Nebula will go to Morag to get the Power Stone while Nat and Clint will go to Vormir for the Soul Stone." He says gesturing to the four of them. "And lastly Bruce, Scott, Steve and I will be going to 2015. Bruce and Scott will go get the Time Stone from Strange in New York while me and Steve will sneak into Struckers Castle and get the Mind Stone. Are we clear?" Everyone murmurs an agreement, "Then lets get to work people!" Peter says before the all split off to get ready.


End file.
